Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Poached pears

I had read about this at premium restaurants but never tried it, so a couple of weeks ago, I finally decided to try it out. The dish certainly looks really pretty, no? And it's pretty simple if you ignore the long marination period (2 days). So while not a dessert to be thrown together for an impromptu evening, it's certainly one to be tried for a formal event.

Ingredients:

2 pears - firm but sweet

Red wine - enough to immerse the two pears in

1 stick cinnamon

3-4 cloves

1 tbsp sugar (depending on sweetness of pears)

1 tsp lime juice

Vanilla icecream to serve, as an option

Skin the pears, leaving the stems on and marinate in a tall jar with enough wine so the pears are immersed. Turn them over after a few hours if you are placing them sideways. After 24 hours, take out the pears carefully, and put the wine on to heat at a simmer. Add the cinnamon and the cloves, the sugar and let it simmer for about 15 minutes before turning off the heat. Add the pears back and let it marinate for a further day in the fridge.

Serve on a plate, or - my preferred option - in a wine glass. If you like, you can place a bed of vanilla icecream in the glass before resting the pear on it. Feel free to drink up the spiced wine as is or heated up - mulled wine at its best!

3 comments:

Interesting... I've been wanting to try this out too! I'm just stopping by to let you know about the Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook contest. I thought you might want to enter some of your recipes for a chance to be published in the book. Here's the link for more info: http://www.foodista.com/blogbook Good luck!

Hi

I'm a full-time working mom, juggling a career with three young kids, an adorable husband, a house and a garden and a love of reading and writing. I love to watch family and friends enjoy the results of my culinary experiments. I love exploring other cuisines, trying out new spices, fruit, vegetables and enjoy adding my own inspired twists to whatever I conjure up. Welcome to Food which often goes hand in hand with Laughter...